


anniversary

by life_unsolved



Category: LA by Night, Vampire: The Masquerade, Vampire: The Masquerade- L.A. By Night (Web Series)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Happy One Year LA by Night
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-05
Updated: 2019-10-05
Packaged: 2020-11-24 10:31:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20906186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/life_unsolved/pseuds/life_unsolved
Summary: “What’s this for?” She asked, trying to peek between the paper.“It’s- We care about you,” Nelli offered.“Aw, guys. I care about you, too. You didn’t need to get me anything, though.”..Victor and Nelli give Annabelle a gift.





	anniversary

**Author's Note:**

> Remember when I only wrote longer angst-feelings stuff? Those were the days. Now I write short fluff. Who would have guessed? I didn't participate in the Vamily by Night video, but I did want to offer something for the one year mark of LA By Night.
> 
> Happy One Year, Vamily <3

Nelli adjusted her necklace, smoothing a hand over her hair. She made sure her beret was straight before she turned away from the mirror, pacing in front of Annabelle’s door.

“Relax,” Victor whispered, shifting the gift bag to his other hand and reaching out for her.

“This is a stupid idea,” she muttered, letting Victor’s hand guide her back to him. She tapped her foot impatiently as Victor double checked his phone.

“It was your idea,” he murmured absently.

“Yeah, but you didn’t tell me it was stupid.”

He chuckled under his breath before he tucked his phone away, turning his attention back to her. “It’s not stupid. Campbell says she just got in.”

Nelli took a deep breath, smoothing her hair out again reflexively. She closed her eyes and tried to hone in on Annabelle. She could hear the girl talking pleasantly to Bailey as she walked towards the stairway that led to her quarters. She worried her lip for a moment before she felt Victor adjust her necklace again for her.

“You’re pretty fast. You could always run, and I could make her forget that she saw us?” He offered as the thudding footsteps got closer. Annabelle was graceful by nature, but she always came rushing down the stairs as if something was chasing her.

Nelli took his hand in hers as Annabelle rounded the corner. “Too late,” she whispered back.

The girl stopped suddenly. She watched the two of them with mild suspicion, running her eyes over them as she spoke. “Hey guys. What’s going on?”

Victor squeezed her hand, and she glared at him a little as she spoke. “Hi. H- Hey, Annabelle. Hello. We were just waiting for you to come home.”

“I can see that,” she replied, confusion lacing her words. “Why?”

Nelli offered her what she hoped was a reassuring smile. “We just had something we wanted to talk to you about. We wanted to give you something.”

Victor sighed beside her, and she considered stepping on his foot. 

Annabelle turned to Victor. “What’s going on? Why’s Mom being weird?”

Nelli felt the ghost of her heart jump in her chest. He shook his head a little. “She’s naturally weird. Can we come in?”

Annabelle grimaced. She ran a hand through her hair as she glanced at the door behind them. She bit her lip and walked between them, putting herself between them and her room. “Uh, so the thing is,” she started, taking special interest in her scuff shoes. 

“The thing is?” Nelli said, arching an eyebrow. She heard Victor let out an amused sigh.

“You’re with Mark. I don’t expect he’s gotten any cleaner over the years. I think any sane person would be scared off by his bedroom. Just tell me how bad it is.” 

Annabelle gave him a painful, tiny smile. “Scale of one to ten?” She offered. 

He opened his mouth, and Annabelle rushed to speak over him. “Okay, so, it’s not really that bad if you think about it. It’s mainly laundry. I can’t eat anymore, so there’s not, like, a lot of wrappers lying around.”

"There shouldn't be any wrappers lying around," Victor huffed under his breath.

Nelli rubbed her forehead lightly at the thought of the mess that was surely waiting for her. She sighed as she spoke. “Annabelle-”

“You know I’m leading a vampire rebellion, right? That doesn’t leave me a lot of free time for chores.”

Victor gestured wordlessly for a moment, and Nelli could see the gears in his head turning. His mouth was usually quicker than his brain. It was a little amusing to see him grasping for words. 

“I- You know we have a maid, right? Like, I hire a cleaning crew for the club and all, but we also have, like, a maid. She does Nelli’s floor and my place. I can send her down here, it’s literally her job.”

Annabelle wrinkled her nose. “That’s- We’ll talk about that later. And I don’t want someone going through my stuff. That’s not the point. You can come in. Just don’t say anything.”

Nelli pressed her lips in a thin line. She studied the wall behind Annabelle, feeling two sets of eyes on her. Victor wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

“We won’t say anything, isn’t that right, my darling?”

She narrowed her eyes at him. He grinned charmingly, and she turned back to Annabelle. The girl was looking at her with wide eyes and a bashful smile.

“This isn’t fair, I’m surrounded,” she complained. 

Victor tightened his arm around her. “You sure are.” He turned back to Annabelle. “We’ll be perfect.”

Annabelle hesitated for a moment before she began fishing her keys out of her pocket. She took one last look back at them before she unlocked her door, and walked in. 

“Welcome to Casa de Annabelle,” she muttered under her breath.

To say the room was a mess was an understatement.

It looked as if a laundry basket exploded. Under the disgust, Nelli was surprised Annabelle even owned enough clothing to carpet the floor. She seemed to wear the same thing night after night. There were pants and socks covering most of the ashen hardwood. Even though they didn’t eat, there were half filled glasses everywhere. Nelli didn’t even want to think about what she was doing with the water.

The door to the en suite was being held open by a pile of unused textbooks. The throw pillows she picked out were on a pile next to the bed. A thin layer of dust covered most of the furniture. There were a few empty boxes shoved in one corner, and a pile of shoes. Annabelle had her heels mixed in with her gym shoes, and the world’s ugliest pair of flats sat neatly on top.

Nelli thought she saw one of the clothing piles move. She closed her eyes and tried not to breathe. She couldn’t get sick, but it felt like a close call.

“Annabelle,” she said quietly.

The girl held one finger up. “You promised!”

Nelli shook her head and tried to decide where the safest place to sit would be. 

She knew this room well, even though she’d only been here once. She helped Annabelle redecorate from Victor’s idea of Ikea chic. They painted the room cream and brought in charcoal colored furniture. Nelli begrudgingly helped the girl frame and hang old movie posters. It wasn’t her style, but it was presentable. Or it had been.

She was moving before she thought about it. She used her nails to pick up dirty laundry with lightning speed, dropping clothes into the basket in the bathroom. After she cleared a walkable path, she began clearing off the plush ottoman at the foot of the bed, leaving the random sheets of paper stacked neatly on the desk and the old candy wrappers in the nearly overflowing garbage. She arranged some of the throw pillows on the ottoman before she slowed down and turned to Victor.

“Give me your jacket, I’m not sitting on this.”

He sighed as he began to shrug it off, knowing better than to argue with her. “I like this jacket. If it catches whatever super virus she’s breeding down here, you’re getting me a new one.”

She stared at him stonily, hand out. He gave her his jacket, and she laid it over the length of the ottoman before she sat down primly, patting the space next to her. Victor carefully made his way on the clean patch of floor before sitting down next to Nelli.

Annabelle watched them for a moment before she climbed on the bed, moving to sit at the foot of the bed between them. 

“I would have cleaned it,” she muttered, playing with her ring.

Nelli wrinkled her nose. “Of course, you would have, dear. We just wanted to get this done within the next decade.”

Victor cleared his throat loudly. “So, Annabelle, we have something for you.”

He held up the little gift bag in an offer. There was a border of clear crystals along the top of the navy bag, glittering against the vibrant red tissue paper. She took it from him warily, turning it one way and then another.

“What’s this for?” She asked, trying to peek between the paper.

“It’s- We care about you,” Nelli offered.

Annabelle looked up, offering the two of them a small smile. “Aw, guys. I care about you, too. You didn’t need to get me anything, though.”

Victor leaned forward. “It was Nelli’s idea to get you something,” he whispered loudly. “I helped pick it out, though.”

Annabelle’s smile grew, and Nelli found herself smiling back before she could help it. Annabelle was like Victor in that way. Their joy was contagious. At least for her.

Annabelle pulled the paper out, setting it on a tangled mess of blankets next to her. She reached in and grabbed the first glossy white box. She sat it down, and looked back in the bag, grabbing the nearly identical matte black box underneath. 

“Which one do I open first?”

“The white one,” Nelli said, twisting her hands together. A warm hand covered hers, and she let her fingers interlock with Victor’s.

Annabelle picked up the box, bringing it to her ear and shaking it a little.

“Annabelle,” she warned.

The girl’s shoulder’s crawled towards her ears for a moment before she took a deep breath and opened the box.

“Oh. It’s pretty?” Annabelle offered, reaching in to pull out the bracelet nestled in black fabric.

It was a rose gold bangle, with roman numerals making up the body between two solid bands. It was simple, yet elegant. It glittered under the white lights of the room. 

Victor leaned forward, taking it from her carefully. “This,” he said, gesturing to the series of letters lining the band, “Is the day we met you.”

He offered the bracelet back to her, and she took it between her fingers, twisting the band to read it properly. 

“Oh.”

He rushed to explain. “We know it wasn’t a great time for you, and all. Like, you were just murdered. That really sucks, I know. And then you had to leave everyone behind, and your friend died. It must have been awful.”

His eyes widened a touch as realized what he was saying. Annabelle stared at him in confusion, sadness creeping into her eyes. Victor looked at Nelli, wordlessly begging for help.

She would have laughed at him if he wasn’t ruining this. It was clear that he only had sons.

“But,” she said, shaking her head at him, “That turned out to be a very important day for all of us. We met you, and even though it was hard, we all survived.”

She reached forward with her free hand, taking one of Annabelle’s. “You made our coterie complete. We didn’t even know we were missing you, but we were.”

Victor recovered. “We were always waiting for you, I think. We wouldn’t be able to do this without you. You made us into a family.”

“Vamily,” Annabelle corrected quietly.

The scent of fresh vitae hit the air, and they pretended not to notice as Annabelle wiped her eyes. 

She set the bracelet back into the box, handing it to Nelli to hold as she picked up the black box with stuttering fingers. She started to open it, then let the lid snapped back into place.

“You know you guys didn’t have to do this, right? I give you a lot of shit, Victor, but I know you care about me. You care about all of us. You and Nelli try so hard to take care of us, and I-”

“Annabelle, just open it,” Victor interrupted.

She opened the lid and pulled out the second bracelet.

“The design for this one was my idea,” he said proudly.

Nelli knew it was a good idea when he brought it to her. The reddish-brown leather of the bracelet was better suited for day to day wear. It could handle trips into the sewer, and fighting with other kindred.

Jasper said that he was going to speak to her privately, but he’d agreed to take it to Eva, and have it warded. The protective magic made it hard to damage, and gave it a pleasant, floral smell. It was a series of leather straps braided together to form a band. One of the straps had the same date on it, and another simply read, “Love Mom, Dad, and Jasper,” in small letters.

It was meant to be a joke, but the moment she saw it, she knew it was probably the most serious any of them had ever been.

Annabelle mouthed along as she read the inscription, and the vitae flowed freely from her. She didn’t bother to pretend she wasn't crying. She clutched the bracelet tightly in one hand and threw her arms around the people who helped build her family.

“Thank you,” she choked, burying her bloody face into Nelli first, then Victor. Her shirt was going to be a bitch to clean, but it was well worth it. Nelli wrapped her arms around her, and Victor held them close.

“I love you,” Nelli whispered suddenly, not entirely sure who she was talking to.

“I love you, too,” two voices replied instantly, and they were home.

**Author's Note:**

> I truly do love this show to piece. I've never connected to characters as much as I do to Victor and Nelli. They both mean the world to me, and it's been such a joy getting to experience them alongside the rest of you. It makes me so happy to watch them grow and change, and come together and even drift apart. There is something about this show that's just magic to me, and I love it dearly.
> 
> Thanks for reading.


End file.
